by Cindy Woods

Created on: April 30, 2009

Integrity means honesty, truthfulness, honor, reliability and uprightness. With these definitions in mind, there are many behaviors that cause people to lose their integrity. The first one being dishonesty.

Dishonesty is the most common downfall for most people. Even the simplest lie can lead others to no longer considering you a person of integrity. You can be the most giving, reliable, kind person in the world, but the first time you get caught being dishonest your integrity is damaged, continued dishonesty leads to integrity being completely destroyed.

"My word is my bond" comes to mind. It reminds me of the movie Hook with Robin Williams. He plays Peter Pan all grown up with children of his own. He is a workaholic who continually lets his son down by not keeping his promises.

In one scene of the movie he tells his son he promises he will make it to his baseball games, and then says to his son, "My word is my bond". To which his son replies, "yeah junk bonds."

Not keeping your word is a very quick way to lose integrity. You can be thought of by others as someone who has integrity, but the first time you don't keep your word, you damage this virtue in the eyes of other. You cease to be someone others may have considered reliable.

I do realize there are times when we all may say we are going to do something and unforeseeable circumstances come along, life is like that. However, when a person is consistently going back on their word, integrity is gone not just damaged.

Even though in today's world the idea of what is right or what is wrong has become more gray than black and white, most people know the difference between right and wrong. Most are just not willing to admit it.

There are some things that are just wrong no matter how you look at it. Things like adultery, stealing, murder, domestic violence, just to name a few. We have politicians who, even though they may be passionate and say they want to change things, have gotten caught cheating on their spouses, which overshadows those good things and damaged their integrity.

Personally for me, when someone's integrity has been compromised I begin to have serious doubts about their ability to lead, especially in a governmental position. If a person does not have integrity in every area of their life they cannot be trusted.

Another way a person's behavior can damage their integrity is by stealing. Taking something you have not paid for or have been given is stealing. Technically, when people buy things on a credit card and then don't pay the bill, that is stealing.

Taking supplies home from the company a person is employed by is stealing. One reason so many companies have such high profit loss has to do with employees taking things like paper, pens and various other office supplies home.

In a nut shell anything a person does that is dishonest, unreliable, untrustworthy damages a person's integrity. When I think of Integrity, people such as Billy Graham and Mother Teresa come to time. Both have lived lives beyond reproach and have given us examples of what it truly means to have integrity.

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